BlackBerry 10.1 update beta shows the future of the future of BlackBerry

HDR photos top a long list of minor changes.

Qualcomm Snapdragon chips power the BlackBerry Z10 and many other smartphones.

Andrew Cunningham

BlackBerry Z10 owners (and future BlackBerry Q10 owners) take notice: BlackBerry has issued a beta version of BlackBerry 10.1 to developers, and the first major update to BlackBerry 10 will bring a pile of small-but-welcome improvements to the operating system.

CrackBerry has the full list of improvements included in BlackBerry version 10.1.0.1483, but we'll run down the highlight reel. At the top of the list is high-dynamic-range (HDR) photography, which as you may know from other platforms combines one underexposed shot, one shot with normal exposure, and one overexposed shot to create photos with the best possible lighting. The update also allows PIN-to-PIN messaging through the BlackBerry Hub, introduces some new demos and walkthroughs to acclimate users to the operating system's gesture-heavy interface, lets you disable alerts for specific apps, allows for coupon redemption in the BlackBerry World app store, and makes a number of other cosmetic and functional tweaks.

This won't be Blackberry 10's first update—at least one minor patch has been issued since release to squash bugs—but it will be the first "major" version bump since we got our hands on the Z10 in January. Updates to my review unit have come down reasonably quickly so far, but we still don't have enough evidence to say whether Blackberry updates will be delivered quickly and predictably like iOS, less-predictably-but-eventually like Windows Phone, or maybe-sometime-but-often-not like Android.

The update on the Crackberry list that looks most interesting to me is the ability to paste into the dialer. I sure hope the buggy dialer program is fixed. So far that is the most irritating thing about this phone.

Updates and crapware are two areas where Blackberry can clearly outshine Android. If Blackberry keeps its phones and OS competitive and exploits these potential advantages, it will be reasonably successful.

Blackberry really needed to have this OS/phone out in the market 3 years ago. We were predominantly a BB shop, and we've since switched everyone over to various iOS / Android sets and moved away from BES. The phones look very interesting, but I feel like a lot of businesses have already moved away from the blackberry ecosystem and probably won't be back anytime soon.

- Data usage is now on par with iPhone and Android - it is no longer compressed like previously. So those of you in love with BB for it's thrifty data use those days are over.

- BES10 doesn't support HA yet, and who knows when it will. So running a mission-critical BES install is not possible for BB10 devices yet.

- Currently, in Canada on Rogers, the Z10 has over a 60% return rate with corporate trials. Yes, over 60% of the ones given out on trial result in the customer going with something else.

It's really too bad BB can't get it together and is going down the toilet fast. I've been a happy user since my 957 decades ago but they just don't seem to have what it takes to compete in todays market.

I will give the Q10 a shot at winning me back but I don't give it much hope.

Blackberry really needed to have this OS/phone out in the market 3 years ago. We were predominantly a BB shop, and we've since switched everyone over to various iOS / Android sets and moved away from BES. The phones look very interesting, but I feel like a lot of businesses have already moved away from the blackberry ecosystem and probably won't be back anytime soon.

Although a lot of companies are bailing on Blackberry, my guess is that the US government will keep them for a while. I was the (not so) proud owner of a gov't Blackberry a few years back, and it was a mixed bag. I prefer android for day-to-day use on my personal phone, but the Blackberry had great gov't email integration as well as CAC reader capability to remotely access secure sites. I'm not sure the gov't is moving away from Blackberry anytime soon.

Those old BB devices you're talking about aren't the same as the new lineup running BB10. No BIS, needs a new BES install, new OS with plenty of first-gen issues... I'm not sure governments and big corporates would jump to an unproven new system when WP8, Android and iOS are already available.

I've got a Z10 (corporate) and I'm fairly happy with it. There are some issues though that I hope get addressed:

1. Bring back all the old alarm sounds, bell sounds, etc that we had on BB9700 running OS5. You could add them into OS6 (which I did) but I still miss all those great sounds. Feels like a huge step back.

2. Make Text messages vibrate a selectable number of times. Changel ALL notifications so I can change the vibrate pattern, and number. I'd love to have -.- for texts, but ... for event reminders. Just so I could know by how things feel what to pay attention too.

3. Make it easier to find/user the "select and delete multiple messages as once" again. It really stinks having to delete one by one.

Otherwise the screen is really nice, battery isn't as bad as I feared it would be, it feels nice in the hand, not slippery at all. I sorta think a home button might have been better, but I'm getting used to swiping.

4. Oh yeah, another gripe. Make menus and buttons more consistent for apps, or at least the core ones. Put them down lower left, or upper left or somewhere consistent. Some apps are up top, some are down low, others are a side swipe... it's just a little jarring.

So I'm writing this as someone coming from a BB9700 and other BBs I've had for years. Since the corp pays for it, I'm not willing to shell out more per-month for my own phone, and now at least I've got something which works pretty close to the Android/iOS family of phones.

I've got a Z10 (corporate) and I'm fairly happy with it. There are some issues though that I hope get addressed:

2. Make Text messages vibrate a selectable number of times. Changel ALL notifications so I can change the vibrate pattern, and number. I'd love to have -.- for texts, but ... for event reminders. Just so I could know by how things feel what to pay attention too.

Yeah, I miss that too from my old BB (Pearl 9100). I would love to have that back.

I've got a Z10 (corporate) and I'm fairly happy with it. There are some issues though that I hope get addressed:

1. Bring back all the old alarm sounds, bell sounds, etc that we had on BB9700 running OS5. You could add them into OS6 (which I did) but I still miss all those great sounds. Feels like a huge step back.

2. Make Text messages vibrate a selectable number of times. Changel ALL notifications so I can change the vibrate pattern, and number. I'd love to have -.- for texts, but ... for event reminders. Just so I could know by how things feel what to pay attention too.

3. Make it easier to find/user the "select and delete multiple messages as once" again. It really stinks having to delete one by one.

Otherwise the screen is really nice, battery isn't as bad as I feared it would be, it feels nice in the hand, not slippery at all. I sorta think a home button might have been better, but I'm getting used to swiping.

4. Oh yeah, another gripe. Make menus and buttons more consistent for apps, or at least the core ones. Put them down lower left, or upper left or somewhere consistent. Some apps are up top, some are down low, others are a side swipe... it's just a little jarring.

So I'm writing this as someone coming from a BB9700 and other BBs I've had for years. Since the corp pays for it, I'm not willing to shell out more per-month for my own phone, and now at least I've got something which works pretty close to the Android/iOS family of phones.

Well, for all their talk this is the make-or-break point for BB.

It's one thing to fix bugs. It's another to actually listen to your customer base, and implement things they want.

In other OS ecosystems, they just rely on someone in the app store to produce the fix you're wanting: better alarm program, better notificaiton program, etc... Android is notorious for that.

I'm sure BB wants to get their app store off the ground, but I hope they don't neglect their core OS apps as an excuse to get developers to build replacements, and thus kick start their app store. Folks want to go to an app store to get more stuff, not replacements for the wonky core stuff on their phone.

Although a lot of companies are bailing on Blackberry, my guess is that the US government will keep them for a while. I was the (not so) proud owner of a gov't Blackberry a few years back, and it was a mixed bag. I prefer android for day-to-day use on my personal phone, but the Blackberry had great gov't email integration as well as CAC reader capability to remotely access secure sites. I'm not sure the gov't is moving away from Blackberry anytime soon.

And now there is 0 ways to get email without a CAC so the Blackberry will live on....

I've got a Z10 (corporate) and I'm fairly happy with it. There are some issues though that I hope get addressed:

1. Bring back all the old alarm sounds, bell sounds, etc that we had on BB9700 running OS5. You could add them into OS6 (which I did) but I still miss all those great sounds. Feels like a huge step back.

2. Make Text messages vibrate a selectable number of times. Changel ALL notifications so I can change the vibrate pattern, and number. I'd love to have -.- for texts, but ... for event reminders. Just so I could know by how things feel what to pay attention too.

3. Make it easier to find/user the "select and delete multiple messages as once" again. It really stinks having to delete one by one.

Otherwise the screen is really nice, battery isn't as bad as I feared it would be, it feels nice in the hand, not slippery at all. I sorta think a home button might have been better, but I'm getting used to swiping.

4. Oh yeah, another gripe. Make menus and buttons more consistent for apps, or at least the core ones. Put them down lower left, or upper left or somewhere consistent. Some apps are up top, some are down low, others are a side swipe... it's just a little jarring.

So I'm writing this as someone coming from a BB9700 and other BBs I've had for years. Since the corp pays for it, I'm not willing to shell out more per-month for my own phone, and now at least I've got something which works pretty close to the Android/iOS family of phones.

1. I agree with this, and I feel like they will be adding this at some point. It wasn't there in the dev preview (I tested it out) but a lot of people are complaining about this so I imagine they will implement it at some point.

2. The text messaging part is in this build. I do not know about calendar reminders, but I would assume it would also have this.

3. You could always sort of do this. Go to the Hub, and long-press on the date and there will be a 'delete prior' option. Havinig multi-select would be nice, but I didn't see it in this build. EDIT: you can also long press any message then choose select more from the overflow menu.

4. What apps in particular don't fit well? All the native apps have the basic Cascades action bar.

You can't get them with any carrier here in Sweden though (at least not where I live), but I am tempted anyway..

Maybe not with a carrier subsidy but otherwise they should work fine in Sweden. Much of the OS and apps were developed by TAT in Malmö and Stockholm. I heard that a Swedish layout is already available for the software keyboard.

Those old BB devices you're talking about aren't the same as the new lineup running BB10. No BIS, needs a new BES install, new OS with plenty of first-gen issues... I'm not sure governments and big corporates would jump to an unproven new system when WP8, Android and iOS are already available.

- Data usage is now on par with iPhone and Android - it is no longer compressed like previously. So those of you in love with BB for it's thrifty data use those days are over.

- BES10 doesn't support HA yet, and who knows when it will. So running a mission-critical BES install is not possible for BB10 devices yet.

- Currently, in Canada on Rogers, the Z10 has over a 60% return rate with corporate trials. Yes, over 60% of the ones given out on trial result in the customer going with something else.

It's really too bad BB can't get it together and is going down the toilet fast. I've been a happy user since my 957 decades ago but they just don't seem to have what it takes to compete in todays market.

I will give the Q10 a shot at winning me back but I don't give it much hope.

I keep asking myself where you got your figures. Perhaps a link included to verify what you're saying? Otherwise it's all hearsay.

The flipside of what you're saying is that 40% of all corporate trials are resulting in sales, with clients who are ALREADY INVESTED in a previously established system like Android or Apple. Not bad really.

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.